The Guardian
by Ari83
Summary: Buffy struggle to figure out how to stop Glory at the same time as she realises that she and Riley are having some problems....


Title: The Guardian  
  
Part: 1  
  
Author: Ari83  
  
Rating: PG Spoilers: I guess, everything up until the episode "Into the woods" and maybe some eps after. Disclaimer: The only things I own here is the story plot and the character Arianna the rest belongs to Joss, Mutant Enemy etc  
  
A wolf came slowly out from the forest. Carefully scanning the area for any sign of danger, it stood at the edge of the clearing at the cliff. When it heard nothing it walked slowly out to the edge of the cliff and looked down at the lights below. A white light started shining from the wolf. It shone brighter and brighter until it was so bright you could hardly look at it. When it faded, a young girl stood there instead of the wolf. She looked down at her petite form to see that everything was in order, listened a little at the sounds from the forest behind her and then, slowly, started to make her way to the small town below.  
  
*  
  
Riley walked slowly up the stairs, following the vampire girl he'd come to see a few times over the past few weeks. When they came to the room, he walked past her and started removing his shirt. He sat down in the only chair in the room and watched the vampire come closer and sit down by his feet. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back, making ready for what he knew would come. Then he felt it. The sharp pain as her teeth came through his skin and then the head rush as she started sucking his blood into her mouth. The feeling grew stronger and stronger the harder she sucked and he rushed her on. He lost himself in the feeling but snapped back as he heard a female voice from close by.  
  
"You know, you really shouldn't do that," the voice said and he felt the vampire snap her head up, taking parts of his skin with her. He looked with surprise on the vampires frightened face and then turned his eyes to the small figure at the door. What he saw was a young and very beautiful girl looking very petite and fragile. Nothing about her could explain the fear that he felt coming from the shaking vampire at his feet. He watched as the girl looked him over and then burrowed her eyes into the shaking vampire. In amazement he saw the vampire shrink back and heard it moan. The young girl looked at the vampire for what seemed an eternity.  
  
"You may leave," she then said and the vampire ran out as if it were on fire. The girl followed the vampire with her eyes and then turned them to him. An amused smile crept across her face when she saw his amazement. He stood up as she started to casually walk around the room, glancing at him now and then. When she stopped in front of him and looked appreciatively at his chest he realised that he was still shirtless. A bit embarrassed, he picked up his shirt and put it on.  
  
"No need for my sake," the girl said, a bit amused by his embarrassment. He gave her a surprised look.  
  
"I kinda liked the view," she said in explanation.  
  
"Oh," Riley said, not knowing how to reply to that.  
  
"You like your view?" she asked in a sweet voice, batting with her eyelashes towards him and made a little girly twirl.  
  
"I guess," he replied a bit uncomfortably.  
  
"No exaggeration here," she said in an ironic voice then came a little closer.  
  
"You don't think I'm cute?" she said, pouting her lower lip.  
  
"Well, sure I do." Riley started, not knowing what to think.  
  
"Really? Oh you're a sweet boy," she said smiling, and reached up her hand to pat his cheek.  
  
"Boy?" he said in a hurt voice.  
  
"Oh, sorry. I keep forgetting you people don't like when I call you boys." she said shaking her head a little. She watched as he watched her with a puzzled look in his eyes and gave a small giggle. She loved when she got them puzzled or confused.  
  
"Now, what is a cute bo.guy like you doing in a place like this?" she said taking another step closer to him.  
  
"Isn't that obvious?" Riley asked, a little disgusted with himself when he remembered why he was there.  
  
"What you came for is quite obvious yes, but not why," she said now a little more serious.  
  
"That's non of your business," he replied, a little harsher than he'd intended.  
  
"Oh," she said, her eyes going blank with the tears he had expected. Then the girl blinked and the smile was back in her eyes.  
  
"I guess you're a very private person, aren't you?" she said.  
  
"I guess." he said, not knowing what to think of her rapid mood changes.  
  
"So am I," she said, coming even closer. She now stood almost on top of his feet. He stiffened and tried to take a step back but, she stopped him by putting her tiny hand around his upper arm. He stood there, stiff as a post, as she reached up and sniffed at his neck.  
  
"What are you doing?" Riley asked, a little agitated.  
  
"Just checking something," she replied and took a step back. He saw a disappointed hint in her eyes before she smiled once more.  
  
"Does your girlfriend know you're here?" she asked, surprising him again.  
  
"How did you.?" he asked, even more puzzled than before.  
  
"You have her scent on you," she said, now turning away from him and starting to casually walk around the room again.  
  
"Her scent?" he asked, following her with his eyes.  
  
"Yes, her scent. You know, every human has their own scent and yours is mixed with the scent of a woman. Unfortunately for me," she explained. "What?" Riley asked, not sure of what that last part meant.  
  
"Huh?" she asked, turning her eyes back to him.  
  
"What do you mean, unfortunately?" he asked.  
  
"Oh! Well, see. I kinda like you but, being taken and all, I can't have you," she said, flashing him a little sad smile and returned to gaze out the window.  
  
"You like me?" Riley asked, feeling almost proud that this strange, but very beautiful, girl would like him.  
  
"Well, your physique seems strong, you don't look halfbad and you seem to have at least something resembling intelligence," she replied, gave him a distant look and returned to looking out the window. He decided to drop the subject as he realised that she was more concentrated on the street than on him at the moment. Besides, nothing good seemed to be coming from that subject anyway. He watched her look distantly out the dirty window and then, with a small sigh, she turned and continued her casual walk through the room. Riley watched as she distantly touched the bathtub and other stuff in the room and realised that he didn't even know this girls name.  
  
"What's your name?" he asked. She quickly returned her gaze to him and straightened her back.  
  
"Anna," she replied with a smile.  
  
"Riley," he said, reaching out his hand towards her. She gave the hand a surprised look and then took it. Her hand felt very small in his.  
  
"Nice to meet you Riley," she said, shaking his hand. He smiled then, for the first time since she'd come into the room. Then he looked a little closer at her pondered at how she could've frightened that vampire so much. When his eyes returned to her face she had a very amused look in her eyes.  
  
"Not so scary, huh?" she said and he looked at her in shock.  
  
"You read minds?" he asked with a little edge to his voice. Something about all this disturbed him. He couldn't understand this little girl who called herself Anna. She looked so fragile that a small wind could probably blow her away and yet, she'd scared the wits out of that vampire.  
  
"No, I don't read minds. You just happened to have the look that men have given me almost my whole life," she said, snapping him out of his thoughts.  
  
"And what look would that be?" he asked.  
  
"The How-can-a-petite-little-girl-like-her-be-strong-enough-to-do-that look," she said and gave a little tired sigh.  
  
"Oh, that look." Riley said and then smiled at the thought of how much Buffy would kick his ass if he ever gave her that look. "Something amusing?" she asked with a curious voice.  
  
"I just thought of how much my girlfriend would hate to get that look," he said.  
  
"Oh?" she said, still sounding curious.  
  
"She's almost as petite as you and yet, she's stronger than me," he explained.  
  
"Really?" she said and then a look of amusement gleamed in her eyes.  
  
"Well, good for her then," she said, smiling teasingly at Riley.  
  
"Yeah, good for her," he said, giving a half smile.  
  
"Well." Anna started.  
  
"Well what?" he asked, surprised. Riley realised that he'd been in an almost constant state of surprise and puzzlement since she'd shown up at the door.  
  
"What's your girl's name?" she asked.  
  
"Oh. Her name's Buffy", he said. Then watched her expression turn from amused to one of surprise.  
  
"You're dating Buffy?" she asked.  
  
"Yes," he said, surprised that she seemed to know Buffy.  
  
"Buffy? The slayer?" she said, trying to understand.  
  
"That would be her, yes. How did you know about the slayer part?" he said, once again puzzled.  
  
"I know her," was the only explanation she gave.  
  
"You know Buffy?" he asked, baffled.  
  
"Yes," she said, deep in thought.  
  
"I've never seen you here before," he said.  
  
"I've been out of town," she said vaguely, and then she looked up at him.  
  
"Since when?" she asked.  
  
"What?" he asked.  
  
"Since when has she been you're girlfriend?" she asked seriously.  
  
"Since about a year back, why?" he replied. She gave him a look. "Nothing special. I just didn't know she'd met someone new that's all," she replied in a matter of fact voice.  
  
"I thought you said you know Buffy," Riley said.  
  
"I told you, I've been out of town," she said with an annoyed tone to her voice. All of a sudden he could see her stiffen and her eyes grow wide.  
  
"I need to go now," she said, and in a blink she'd rushed out the door. Riley stood frozen still for a second and then followed her. He ran down the stairs to the room below where he came to a halt at what met his eyes. The only ones left in the room was a few very scared humans sitting in the corners, whimpering. A few piles of dust revealed that at least some of the vampires were gone forever. He stood still for a moment and realised that Anna must have done this before she came up the stairs and found him and the female vampire in the room. He pondered a little at why she hadn't killed the vampire who had bit him, then he slowly walked out of the building. Riley knew he wouldn't be able to catch Anna now. He looked down the alley and listened but didn't hear or see a thing. He started walking down the few steps to the alleyway below and then turned his eyes upwards and looked at the dirty windows. With a sting he realised that what he'd found there was now lost and then he turned and walked out of the alley without looking back. He knew he'd never return to that place again.  
  
*  
  
Anna ran out from the house but stopped before she reached the street outside the alley. She strained her ears to locate where the fighting was. She had felt that a friend was in trouble and had heard the fighting sounds while she'd been talking to Riley. She listened for a short while and realised that the fighting sounds were coming from a graveyard close by. She quickly scanned the street for any sign of danger and then she ran in the direction of the graveyard. The closer she got the worse it sounded for whoever it was that were fighting. Anna reached a shrub next to the place where the fighting was. She took in the scenery and saw that it was Xander, Willow and a girl she didn't recognise. Xander stood with his back against towards a tomb with a vampire leaning in to bite. Willow were fighting a vampire close by. The unknown girl just dusted a vampire and was attacked by another before the dust had blown away. Two more vampires were moving towards Willow and Anna could see another three vampires lurking in the background. She quietly tried to get closer to Xander without alerting the vampire. Before she reached him, Willow had in one clumsy move managed to dust both her own and Xander's vampire. She stopped and looked at her stake in amazement and then turned to face the two on coming vampires. Anna sneaked to the three lurking vampires and dusted them before they realised they were being attacked. Just as she staked the third one she heard Xander screaming and snapped around.  
  
"Anya, behind you!" Xander screamed and tried to reach the unknown girl who were struck by a vampire behind her. He was stopped by the vampire he was fighting. Anya fell to the ground by the blow and Anna saw her chance. She quickly threw her stake right in the heart of the vampire who had struck Anya. Before it turned to dust, she kicked the other vampire that Anya had been fighting, making it fly a few metres away and hit the very tomb Xander had stood against. Anya looked up at Anna who had reached her hand out to Anya to help her up. When she had helped Anya up, she turned to Xander who was having some trouble with his vampire. Anna threw a stake at the vampire she had kicked and dusted him just before she reached Xander. When Xander saw her he froze in shock and watched as Anna simply staked the vampire and moved to stake the one Willow was fighting. She disposed of it easily and as the dust slowly settled she smiled at a stunned Willow.  
  
"Hi, Willow," Anna said, still smiling. Willow just stared at her in shock for a while before she screamed with joy and threw herself at Anna.  
  
"Oh my god! Anna! Why didn't you say you were coming? Oh, Buffy's gonna be so happy! She really needs something to be happy about right with the worry about her mom and all," Willow said rapidly in one breath.  
  
"Slow down Willow," Anna laughed.  
  
"I didn't say I was coming 'cause I didn't know when I would be here," she continued.  
  
"Oh! Well, we're glad you're here," Willow said a little slower, turning to Xander. Anna turned to Xander who stood smiling widely with his arm protectingly wrapped around Anya. Anna looked at them smiling and then raised her eyebrow tentatively at him.  
  
"Don't I get a hug?" she asked, opening her arms. Xander grinned and walked towards her.  
  
"Of course you'll get a hug!" he grinned and hugged her tightly.  
  
"It's good to see you Anna, " he whispered in her ear and kissed her cheek. He then turned and reached his arm towards Anya.  
  
"I want you to meet my girlfriend, Anya," he said. Anna looked at Anya and gave her a smile.  
  
"Nice to meet you Anya," she said and reached her hand out to Anya.  
  
"Anya, this is Anna, a friend of mine," Xander said as Anya looked questioningly at him.  
  
"Anna," Anya said and shook Anna's hand.  
  
"You can't have Xander," she continued and looked sternly at Anna. Anna gave Xander a surprised look and saw him give Anya an annoyed look.  
  
"Anya, we've talked about this," he said with a sigh.  
  
"Well, I don't care. She can't have you, you're mine," Anya said, pouting.  
  
"Don't worry. I wont' try and take him," Anna said.  
  
"I can't imagine where you could've gotten that idea," she continued, a bit confused.  
  
"Willow said you were having sex the last time you were here," Anya said, accusingly.  
  
"Oh!" Xander said, not knowing what to say.  
  
"That was then, this is now. I'm not interested in taken men. I want mine free and available and preferably easy," Anna said and saw Anya relax and smile and the last comment. "Good" Can we go now. I want to have sex," Anya said, turning to Xander. Xander gave a sigh but decided not to quarrel with Anya right now.  
  
"Sure," he said and waved in the direction of the exit from the graveyard.  
  
"Thanks for the help by the way," Willow said to Anna as she started walking next to her.  
  
"No worries," Anna replied, shrugging her shoulders.  
  
"How come you're here?" Willow continued.  
  
"Heard some disturbing news so I decided to check it out," Anna said, matter of factly.  
  
"Oh, so why were you here?" Willow said.  
  
"I just said." Anna said, looking confused.  
  
"I meant here, on the churchyard," Willow explained.  
  
"Oh! I was just a few blocks from here when I heard fighting so I came to see if I could be of any help," Anna replied and smiled.  
  
"I see," Willow said, knowing fully well that there was no idea to ask for a more distinct explanation.  
  
"Buffy will be glad to see you," she said, instead.  
  
"I sure hope so. Especially since I have info about this Glory woman she's been fighting," Anna said.  
  
"Info?" Xander said, looking back at Anna. He and Anya were walking a few steps in front of Anna and Willow.  
  
"I'll tell you when we get to Buffy. I don't feel like telling it more than once," Anna answered.  
  
"Then lets go see her now," Xander said.  
  
"No, Xander. We were." Anya started but stopped when Xander gave her a stern look.  
  
"Ok, we'll go to Buffy's," she continued pouting.  
  
"Willow do you know where Giles is?", Xander asked, giving Anya a thankful smile that she hadn't argued more.  
  
"He should be on his way to Buffy by now. He said he'd meet me there in a while," Willow replied.  
  
"Buffy's it is then," Xander said and started to walk. Anna had a smile on her lips as she followed the others. She just loved these people.  
  
* 


End file.
